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Saturday, 27 February 2010 a massive earthquake of magnitude 8.8 struck Chile latitude 35.846°S, longitude 72.719°W at 3:34am local time. Strong aftershocks of up to magnitude 6.9 have rocked the region and will continue throughout the next few days or weeks.
The death toll stands at 300 people and is still rising. Many more have been reported missing.
Collapsed roads and bridges complicated travel across the country. The earthquake caused large area of the linear of the earth's surface to rift and fragment. . Many people died in their dreams and the remaining lost their homeland. Electricity, water and phone lines to be cut down to many areas, so there was little word of casualties or damage from more remote areas and rescue operations were also delayed and humanitarian aid were not able to transport to the victims.
According to the USGS, this earthquake occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates. The two plates are converging at a rate of 80 mm /year. The earthquake occurred as thrust-faulting on the interface between the two plates, with the Nazca plate moving down and landward below the South American plate.
Bachelet said that she had no information on the number of people injured. Chile had not asked for assistance from other countries. “The system is functioning. People should remain calm. We’re doing everything we can with all the forces we have,” said the president.
The disaster was the strongest earthquake to hit Chile in 50 years and one of the strongest ever measured. The quake shook buildings in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and was felt as far away as São Paulo in Brazil – 1,800 miles to the east. This disaster is also far more forceful than the 7.0 Mw 2010 Haiti earthquake.
In my opinion, the Chile government can have some earthquake drills annually, and make sure every citizen participates so that everyone of them will know what to do when a real earthquake happens. The government also can build more 'earthquake-resistant-houses' so when earthquake occurs, some of the houses are still able to withstand the earthquake, thus damages can be minimized.
Websites
Blogger Pesta, http://blogger-pesta.blogspot.com/2010/02/chile-earthquake-2010.html extracted 28-02-2010
USGS National Center
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010tfan.php
extracted 28-02-2010
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Chile_earthquake
extracted 28-02-2010
Pictures were taken from :
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35615455/ns/world_news-chile_earthquake/?GT1=43001
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Chile_earthquake
